AB0154 PHYSICAL FUNCTION ASSESSMENT TOOLS IN PATIENTS WITH JUVENILE IDIOPATHIC ARTHRITIS: JAFAS VERSUS CHAQ
Authors: A. Fazaa, M. Kammoun, S. Miladi, H. Boussaa, K. Ouenniche, L. Souabni, S. Kassab, S. Chekili, K. Ben Abdelghani, A. Laatar
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2022)

Background Children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) frequently experience impairments in one or more body systems. These may include pain, fatigue, muscle weakness, and poor exercise capacity. Functional disability can be evaluated by means of questionnaires and observed performance tests. Only the Juvenile Arthritis Functional Assessment Scale (JAFAS) and the Childhood Health Assessment questionnaire (CHAQ) were developed specifically for children with juvenile arthritis. Objectives The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between JAFAS and CHAQ in the evaluation of physical function. Methods This is a cross sectional study including patients with JIA. Assessment of disease activity (DAS28), number of tender joints (NTJ) and swollen joints (NSJ) were determined. The JAFAS (range 0-20) includes 10 items of activities of daily living (dressing, cutting food, getting in and out of bed, picking up an object from the floor while standing, moving from standing to the floor and returning to standing, walking 50 feet unaided, and walking up a flight of 5 steps). The score range for each item is 0–2, based on the time in seconds the child takes to complete each task. Higher scores indicate greater activity limitation (1). The original CHAQ including 30 activities in eight different domains, with a total score ranging from 0 (no limitation) to 3 (maximal limitation) was completed by interviewing the patient (2). Spearman correlation test and Cohen’s kappa coefficient (k) were used. Significance level was set at p⩽0.05. Results Twenty-nine patients with a median age of 25 years [8-40] and median disease duration of 16 years, were included. Age of onset of the disease was 8 years [2-16] years. The median JAFAS score was 3 [0-12] and the median CHAQ score was 0.05 [0-3]. There was a slight agreement between JAFAS and CHAQ k=0.1 (p = 0.05). A positive correlation was found between NTJ and CHAQ (r=0.54, p=0.03) and JAFAS (r=0.5, p=0.05). A correlation was noticed also between NSJ and CHAQ(r=0.51, p=0.05). Both the JAFAS and CHAQ scores correlated with DAS28 (r=0.55, p=0.01and r=0.44, p=0.02, respectively). At the level of the individual joints, coxitis was the most frequent complication (13 patients out of 28), six of them had surgery of total hip prosthesis. There was a linear relationship between JIA complicated with coxitis and the level of functional disability measured with JAFAS (p=0.027). Conclusion Our study shows that, even though JAFAS had a slight agreement with CHAQ, both were correlated with the level of disease activity and the number of swollen and tender joints. References [1]klepper. S E. Measures of Pediatric Function Child Health Assessment Questionnaire (C-HAQ), Juvenile Arthritis Functional Assessment Scale (JAFAS), Pediatric Outcomes Data collection instruments. Arthritis Care &amp; Research 2011; 63: S371-S82 [2]Bekkering. W P et al. A comparison of the measurement properties of the Juvenile Arthritis Functional Assessment Scale with the childhood health assessment questionnaire. Clin Rheumatol 2007; 26: 1903–07 [3]Bekkering. W P et al. The relationship between impairments in joint function and disabilities in independent function in children with systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis. J Rheumatol 2001; 28:1099-105 Disclosure of Interests None declared